The Central Crime Branch (CCB) on Saturday arrested a 40-year-old man on charges cheating a French citizen of Indian origin of Rs 1.05 crore.
CCB sources said Rajesh Lotha was arrested following a tip-off that he was landing in the country after a trip abroad.
Lotha, who ran Ashtalakshmi Real Estate in Chennai, had promised French citizen Rajesh Nellore in October 2011 to arrange Rs 30 crore from Mumbai-based financier Karanjudge, they said.
In order to arrange funds, Lotha demanded Rs 1.05 crore, of which Rs 1 crore was transferred to Karanjudge directly while the rest Rs 5 lakh was paid to Lotha.
Subsequently, Lotha handed over receipts claiming to have been issued by HSBC and City Commercial Bank for the ‘Swift Wire Transfer Transaction’. The receipts purported to show transfer of Rs 30 crore to law firm Hogan Lovells in London, where Nellore wanted the money to be deposited.
Nellore later learnt that the receipts were forged. When he approached Lotha seeking return of the money, he kept on giving lame excuses. Aggrieved, Rajesh approached City Police Commissioner in July last and filed a case.
CCB official VG Sridharan told Express that the duo faked the documents to make Nellore believe that they had deposited the money.
Though Lotha was nabbed, Karanjudge remains at large, he said. Nellore had to obtain finance to the tune of Rs 200 crore from a London-based firm for setting up an industrial unit. In order to get the loan, he needed to deposit 15 per cent of the entire loan amount, which worked out to Rs 30 crore, with Hogan Lovells.
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